Change at Buffer: The Next Phase, and Why Our Co-Founder and Our CTO are Moving On

We’ve always done things differently at Buffer. For me, this has always come from a natural desire to question things.

Why base your company and team in a single location? Why is it customary to keep salary information private? Why can’t someone exercise during their day and work unusual hours, as long as it’s a productive way for them to work?

Asking these questions – and seeking their answers – has taken us down an interesting path. It’s been a rollercoaster of a journey so far. We’ve made many mistakes, and thankfully had a lot of success, too. We don’t question things just for the sake of it; we ask “why?” because we fundamentally believe that so much of work could be done better, and feel better.

For much of this 6-year journey, I’ve worked alongside my co-founder Leo Widrich. And for the last 4.5 years I’ve worked with Sunil Sadasivan, our CTO who started as one of our earliest technical team members.

We’ve accomplished incredible things together. We went from nothing to 65,000 paying customers, an 80-person team and over 13 million dollars in annual revenue. More importantly, we’ve found ourselves in the midst of two generation-shaping movements: remote working and business transparency.

Now, for the first time, I’m looking to the future of Buffer without these two hugely meaningful leaders, teammates, and friends. Leo and Sunil are leaving the company in the coming weeks.

On our team retreat in Cape Town, South Africa: Carolyn, Leo, Sunil and me.

Wavering between two paths

It’s always been a little hard from the outside to “figure out” Buffer. We often describe the path we’ve gone down over the last 6 years as a series of pendulum swings.

We started off bootstrapped, then raised multiple rounds of funding. We experimented with self-management but for now have a more traditional management setup. We’ve waited to hire until it really hurt, and we’ve hired rapidly and recklessly when our views on ambition and growth changed.

Swinging the pendulum can be a healthy and productive way to test ideas and determine the right approach. Indeed, we’ll always want to experiment and allow a certain amount of this.

At times in the journey we’ve simply tried to do what we feel is right: improve the product, cultivate our culture, provide great customer support and let growth be the by-product of the work we do. Other times, we’ve found ourselves totally focused on our growth rate, trying everything we can to increase it, and agonizing about it dropping over time.

At best, this has felt like harmony of complementary approaches, and useful experimentation. At worst, and more often recently, it started to feel more like swinging between two very different kinds of companies.

The future of Buffer

These 6 years of experimentation and pendulum swings have been the best education I could ask for. They’ve helped to solidify my vision for what kind of company Buffer is and will be.

Today we’re recommitting to a single path and a unified vision.

We will be a long-term, sustainable, fully remote team that works hard on mission-driven work. We will be the most reliable social media tool in the market. And we will continue to push the boundaries of transparency, culture and freedom in the team.

We will strive for the kind of healthy, long-term growth that we believe will naturally follow as we focus on creating trustworthy products and providing unexpectedly delightful customer service.

We will create space to build a uniquely empowering company culture (which we like to call “a workplace of the future”) by investing in creativity, learning, innovation, and joy at work.

Why Leo and Sunil are moving on, and what’s next for them

This is the vision I have for Buffer, and this is the long-term journey I’m excited for us to continue to commit to. We’ve accomplished a lot towards this vision in 6 years, and we have a lot more to do. It’s not the only path to success and joyful work by any means, nor is it one I would ask anyone else to commit to if their vision is different.

It’s bittersweet to look to a Buffer future without Leo and Sunil, who’ve had such an impact on our product and culture. But this is indeed a case of differing visions – neither better than the other, just different.

Sunil leading a session with a few of our engineers on our team retreat in Sydney.

In late July of 2016, we had an executive team offsite that included both Leo and Sunil, and that meeting resulted in the first articulation of this clear vision. We laid out explicitly that we would focus on growing sustainably, slowing down hiring, raising the bar for product quality over shipping frequency, and innovating our culture to create an empowering environment.

This was a vision we all agreed to, but not without a lot of healthy debate. Sunil shared openly at the time that he wasn’t sure he could get fully excited about the path we had laid out. It wasn’t Leo’s first choice of direction either, but he was inspired to see if he could grow into the mindset and make it work.

Throughout the following months, Leo, Sunil and I continued to work closely together. As more time went on and more decisions were made, it began to feel we were misaligned.

Through many conversations, it started to become clear that this path wasn’t truly fulfilling for the two of them, and they had a different approach in mind for building a company.

More often than not, Leo and I leaned towards different ends of the spectrum when it came to decisions like the timing of bringing in senior leaders, whether to continue to raise funding, the balance of work on product vs company culture, and requiring an immediate high bar for performance vs nurturing team members.

Sunil was keen to strive for product quality and great company culture, and he also wanted to do it while we grew the team, hired senior leaders, and aimed for further rounds of funding and a more traditional board setup.

Some of the decisions I was making were hard for Leo and Sunil to feel fully aligned with, and we had many candid conversations about the type of company we were excited to build.

Eventually, it became clear that they did not feel they could be their whole selves with the path that was laid out, or experience the personal growth they were seeking.

Leo and I on a tuk tuk during our retreat in Thailand.

I’m incredibly grateful to Leo and Sunil for jumping on board the Buffer journey so early and with so much risk. They’ve both truly shaped Buffer and me personally for the better. This is a bitter-sweet moment, as we look back on so many years of growth and good times together, but also look ahead to leaning fully into paths that feel natural and exciting for each of us.

What’s next for Leo? He’s planning to start something new, most likely a SaaS product around HR or diversity. He will remain a non-executive board member and advisor to the team. His love for the product and customers, our team and culture, as well as his almost 20% stake in the company mean he’ll always be rooting for Buffer. I’ll be closely in touch and happy to advise him with his new venture. Read more from Leo on his departure and next steps.

What’s next for Sunil? Sunil is planning to take some time to decide his next step. He might create another startup (he was running one before he joined Buffer). He is also considering joining an organization where he can have a large impact on engineering. Meanwhile, he is spending the next few months with Leo to experiment on some product ideas. Read more from Sunil on his departure and next steps.

How we shared the news with the team

Toward the end of 2016, Leo and I had several conversations about the future and took the holiday break to reflect. When we returned in the first week of January, Leo had solidified his decision to move on. Soon after I shared the news with Sunil, he gave me his decision, also.

With a change this big, I strived to balance taking a thoughtful approach to sharing the news, as well as being fully committed to our value of transparency, and not delaying too long. Here’s how we chose to share the news:

First week of January: Leo solidified his decision to move on, we discussed and agreed on it

Friday, January 6: Sunil shared his decision with me

Monday and Tuesday, January 9 and 10: I shared the news with the seven members of our executive team (area-wide leads from departments like marketing, finance, and happiness).

Wednesday, January 11: I shared the news with 3 more leaders and, as a leadership team, we finalized plans to tell the rest of the team.

Thursday and Friday, January 12 and 13: The rest of the Buffer team heard the news one-on-one, an element that was very important to me in delivering this news. I personally told 29 people, and I was grateful to rely on the team leads for helping inform the others.

January 16-25: Over the course of the next two weeks, I spoke one-on-one with almost every person on the team who had yet to hear directly from me. (I still have a plan to speak with everyone, there are around 15 people remaining!)

Thursday, January 24: Leo and I visited Collaborative Fund, the biggest investor in our most recent round of fundraising, to discuss the news.

Wednesday and Thursday, February 2 and 3: We let all other investors know (71 people).

Friday, February 10: We’re sharing the news publicly, with you.

Looking to the future

The clarity of this single, unified vision has already proven so valuable for the team as a whole. I’ll be doing a company-wide All Hands next week to discuss many of the details further.

In addition, we have our next company retreat coming up in three weeks in Madrid! This is perfectly timed for us to spend a whole week as a company discussing and brainstorming what it means to fully lean into the Buffer way from here on out. We’ll be keeping you fully up to date on our next few months here on the blog.

Thanks to so many of you who have been incredible supporters of Buffer throughout our 6-year journey so far. I am completely committed to the long-term growth of Buffer, and I am excited for what we’ll do together to improve our product and company in the months and years ahead!

Wow, Joel, what a ride it’s been! Thanks for being a great friend, co-founder and leader, so many of the good things that happened to me I attribute to your kindness and generosity. Looking forward to the next chapter of Buffer and I’ll be cheerleading from the side, holding signs and rooting for you every minute! Here’s to all of our amazing memories together and the many more to come, in different, but equally exciting ways from now on.

To me, this is the epitome of how these things should happen – a particularly good example given the divisiveness of our current political climate. Many, if not all, of the most impactful things I’ve worked on involved real people having candid conversations and (GASP) often disagreeing. It’s during these conversations that we learn and we grow and almost always end up stronger as a result.

Good for Leo and for Sunil for being upfront about the mis-alignment and good for you for feeling compelled to stick the course with the vision you have for buffer. Sometimes, when we compromise too much, we end up with watered down versions of goods.

Thanks for sharing this and best of luck to all involved; as well as, the success of Buffer (and Matter, for that matter) going forward.

Really wise words, Ryan, totally agree that speaking honestly – even when it’s hard to do – can lead to big personal and interpersonal growth. Thanks for sharing your point of view and encouragement with all of us!

You both have inspired me from afar as leaders, entrepreneurs and ambassadors for driving change and doing it the way you both felt was right. Your transparency, dedication to culture and investment in community are second to none. When I give keynotes I often use buffer as the example of how things should be done. As an entrepreneur myself, I’ve taken pages of notes on how I will grow my product company once I figure out what my product is and so much of it will be modeled in the Buffer way. I have your value sticker on my laptop keyboard as a reminder daily. I just want to say thank you Leo and Joel for inspiring us all and I’m excited for each of your next phases and if there is anything I can do please don’t hesitate to ask. My favorite value: Default to Transparency!

You’re awesome Brian – thanks for this kind message. It’s been incredible to watch your journey the last few years too, and see the amazing things you’ve accomplished and how much value and happiness you’ve brought to so many people. Good luck to you with figuring out the product, let me know if you ever want to brainstorm that ?

For the sake of radical transparency, can you find out what happens to Leo and Sunil’s shares? Did they buy them? If not, how are their shares redistributed? Does it all go to Joel? Order this year is good redistributed to the loyal soldiers since Joel already has so much?

I think what happens to the equity shares is very important for so many people working at startups. This kind of stuff happens all the time where someone leaves and wonders whether they should buy the shares or not.

Thanks,

Jenny Strauss

This is an inspiring communication. It is both transparent and deeply respectful, of departing leaders, of the Buffer team, of your investors, your customers, and the rest of us out here following you.

Thanks for setting a high bar. Thanks for operating with a sense of purpose. It shows.

Thank you so much, Jenny! It means so much to us that you’re so supportive of our efforts!

hyperweb

Ahh, Power and Politics. Gotta love it. You didn’t mention what direction the other guys are heading (unless i skipped over that). It was a well written and articulate explanation. Thanks for sharing. I read most of it. :-)

Jenny Strauss

There are links to info about them in the blog. I didn’t click on them yet, but I saw them. :)

To me Buffer has always occupied a very unique space between a SMB in the style of 37signals / Basecamp and a high-growth venture-backed startup.

Today I was surprised to look at Crunchbase and see Buffer’s total raised is just $3.9M between a Seed and Series A. Very few startups could make that money last 5+ years, but very few startups also occupy this unique space of being profitable so early.

I imagine choosing between the two paths was difficult and it’s great to see clarity around the decision and future direction.

Hopping in to say that as a Buffer teammate, I totally agree. The clarity is so awesome to feel and it’s really driving us forward right now. Excited for what’s ahead! Thanks so much for your thoughts and support, Taylor!

Paul Tucker

Even as someone who isn’t inside Buffer, but is only “looking in from afar,” it’s still hard to wrap my brain around a Buffer without @LeoWid:disqus.

A genuine heart-felt thanks to both Joel and Leo (and all the Bufferoos) for the raw transparency that’s invested into a post like this one. It’s special, sort of heart-wrenching, and beautiful all at the same time. It’s publicly shared info, and still somehow I feel uniquely privileged to be a part of it. Thanks for making us a part of it.

A hearty “cheers” to the years to come – for Buffer, Joel, Leo, and Sunil! Best wishes to you all!

I think it’ll be hard for all of us to wrap our brains around it for a while, too! Really appreciate your very kind words, Paul; it is truly our privilege to be able to share all that we do with the Buffer community, who has always been so supportive, wise and wonderful to us.

Great question Tom, I can see how that might feel a bit unclear. I hate to speak for Joel but also want to make sure you get a really quick answer so I will give it a try and see how it goes! :) I think what he’s describing throughout the post is a feeling of having been slightly wavering between two paths. This transition is the catalyst to fully commit to the path we describe in those “we will” sentences without any more wavering. I’d say right now we are partially to mostly there on the majority of them, but many are moving targets. Always evolving!

hdc77494

Good luck with the change.
BTW, every one of my buffer emails still says “nicole from buffer”. I assume she’s another casualty of your leadership war, and it would be nice if you would stop using her name in the header of your posts. I doubt she’s flattered.

Hello there! Thank you so much for reading this post and also for mentioning this! I am still around at Buffer and helping edit and distribute our Open blog posts. :) Though I confess I haven’t been posting too much of my own writing lately – so you’re definitely right that the heading can be misleading! I hope all is well with you and again am so grateful for you keeping in touch and checking out our posts! :) Cheers!

For the sake of radical transparency, can you find out what happens to Leo and Sunil’s shares? Did they buy them? If not, how are their shares redistributed? Does it all go to Joel? Order this year is good redistributed to the loyal soldiers since Joel already has so much?

I think what happens to the equity shares is very important for so many people working at startups. This kind of stuff happens all the time where someone leaves and wonders whether they should buy the shares or not.

Thanks,

Sam

Ted Carpenter

Sam, I assume you are asking about Leo and Sunil’s options, not their owned shares. Obviously any shares Leo and Sunil “own” will stay with them after they leave (unless they agree to sell them back to the company).

Any options they hold that are “not” vested will be clawed back to the option pool, which can then be redistributed to new hires or other employees or just left alone and eventually absorbed by all shareholders equally according to their stake % (usually during a change of control liquidity event).

Any options Leo and Sunil hold that are vested will have a time frame for them to exercise, usually many years after the departure (unless Buffer broke from standard practice from the beginning). These vested options will stay reserved on the cap table until they are either exercised or expire (or until all parties agree to do something different with them).

As a side note, unvested shares are very rarely taken from one person and “given” to another. Only under special circumstances that are too lengthy to discuss here. But is sounds like you are worried that Joel alone may somehow just reap the benefit from Leo and Sunil’s exit? This is not how it works and even though there might be rare and extreme circumstances you’ve heard of in the past where some exec took advantage like that, Joel certainly doesn’t come off as the kind of person that would ever do that even if there was a loophole to take advantage of.

Jane Anderson

I agree with Leo – WOW! Everything happens for a reason. I can’t even begin to understand where you’ve been and how you’ve come to this point – but I know I have always had deep respect for the Buffer Team. What I wish to see is that you make and maintain this statement as the gospel truth. “We will continue to be a vocal presence in movements that align with our values” Never compromise your values. Wishing you stellar success on the road ahead. I wish the same for Leo and Sunil – and others who may follow them.

So proud of all of you at Buffer. This kind of transparency – where the most senior members of an organization disagree and talk about it openly – is remarkable and powerful. It takes chutzpah, self awareness, and confidence in your staff and selves to be so open.

Congrats to Sunflower and Leo, and congrats to you, too, Joel, and the broader Buffer team. If I were in your shoes, I’d have picked exactly the same path. Product quality, people quality, less of a demand for inorganic growth, and great customer relationships are, IMO, the core of what makes a business great. I’m long Buffer, more now than ever.

What a rollercoaster journey Buffer is having! I truly believe in the vision of buffer and and trust it will have longevity as a tool. product and service. Best of luck to Leo and Sunil, I’m sure they will go on to create their own powerful futures.

You guys are amazing in your transparency and honesty! Much respect to the Buffer team and best wishes ahead to Joel, @LeoWid:disqus and Sunil.

Kornelia Santoro

It is very refreshing to read this open report of changes. I wished there would be more companies like buffer valuing ethics and communication more than a fast profit. I am sure this will prove beneficial in the long run. Buffer is my favourite company and I wish all of you a bright future.m

LeeAndra Blicher Fouts

Is it weird that I feel kind of sad even though I have absolutely no stake in Buffer & no one at Buffer knows me from a hole in the ground?! All this radical transparency makes me feel like my two best high school friends are breaking up & things will never be the same without Leel/Joo together. ;)

Thanks for sharing this Joel. I think it is great that you guys can continue to have offsites around the world and enjoy life while building a business. Can you tell us what happens with Leo’s 23% stake and Sunil’s 2% stake? Did they buy their equity? And if not, who gets it? Thanks for the radical transparency. Very fascinating stuff. Sam